Nightmares (FioLee)

Chapter Sixteen

"Marshall, Marshall!"

He felt someone shaking him gently, and opened one eye. Fionna was holding him bridal style. "Oh. Either you died too, or the angels in heaven are hotter than I thought."
Fionna shook her head. "As much as I appreciate the compliment, neither of us are dead. I caught you."

"Ah, yes. I fear that I've fallen for you."
Fionna laughed. "Alright, you're okay. If you'd suddenly gotten good pick-up lines, then I'd know something was wrong." She teased.
Marshall stuck his tongue out at her. "Rude. I am a king, I don't have to put up with this."
She let him down. "Oh? I thought you were dethroned."

"Ah, yes. By a wily and beautiful blonde who haunts my dreams." Then he glanced down at her feet, which were hovering, and grinned. "She's super short compared to me though."
Fionna laughed. "You're awful."
"So're you." Marshall's grin widened, before he leaned in to kiss her gently on the mouth.

They finally looked around the hole that they had fallen into. Everything was stone, some of which was covered in thick moss. The hole was more of a tunnel, as it led forward before diverging onto two separate paths. The stone walls were engraved with different designs. Some of them were simply ancient designs, but some were pictures depicting a young woman.

"How long has this been down here...?" Marshall muttered as Fionna brushed moss off of an engraving, which rearranged from its previous language to theirs.

'Whosoever steps foot into the labyrinth will have to face the challenges, and bear the reward. Be warned. The sword will not burn you if you are the heir of Caoilliann, in blood or in title, but otherwise, your hand will be gone, if you are lucky.

If the sword glows red, you are the heir in...
If the sword glows blue, ...
If the sword glows... '

The message about the sword glowing had apparently worn away over the years.
"And you still want to go find it?" Marshall guessed.
Fionna nodded enthusiastically. "Of course! Why wouldn't I?"
Marshall sighed. "Well, I guess it's a good thing I brought my ax. By the way, you're picking it up."
"Fine with me." Fionna grinned back.

They headed down the tunnel, turning to the left as the right end quickly seemed to be a dead end.

"Wait, why do they just have a dead end there...?" Marshall muttered.
"Maybe it's a safe area we can set up camp in." Fionna guessed. "Or get something."
Marshall shrugged. "Maybe. Hey, if the walls thin too much for us to continue side by side, want a piggyback ride?"

Fionna smiled. "Maybe. Maybe I'll just hover over you."
"Yeah, flying is the best part." Marshall agreed wistfully. "But anyway, why not just accept my amazing and gentlemanly offer of a piggyback ride?"
"Because I don't tire easily, for one thing. You can have a piggyback ride though."
Marshall scoffed. "I can hold my own."

"It's just that you're not used to walking."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "C'mere."
She floated closer, and he pulled her into a long kiss. "That is my entire argument. But, I can damn well walk by myself, thank you very much."
Her fingers curled into his hair. "I can too."

"Alright then. No piggyback rides, and lots of making out." He smirked, before leaning in to kiss her neck.
"C'mon, Marshall. We have to keep moving."
He sighed, then released her. "Fine. But just 'cause I don't want to be here all night."
She gave him a quick kiss on the nose. "Thanks."

A little while later, they came to a huge monster. It was asleep, but it was also scaly and blood red, coiled up in the corner of the room so high that it reached the ceiling. It was not a snake, arms poked out of the folds at several points, and its teeth were bared in a way that showed that it had much more than fangs.

"So... kill it?" Fionna whispered to Marshall.
The creature opened one eye. "If this were a test of silence, you would have failed." It uncoiled itself, wrapping around the room and pushing them into the center. "Now, I am not what you think. I am not a test of strength."
"Oh, Glob. It speaks." Marshall sighed.
The creature shot him a look. "I could say the same of you. Now, for you both to continue, you must make the correct choice."

"What do you want?" Fionna asked.
It looked towards the exit sadly, it clearly couldn't fit through it. "Freedom. My family is long gone, the blonde one trapped me here... I want to be free again."
"And how do you want us to free you?" Fionna continued warily. "If you could just break free..."

The creature gave her a long look, before looking at Marshall. "What did she say when you entered my room? That could be a viable solution... not the one I'm looking for, but a viable one nonetheless."
"We're not... are you evil?" Fionna asked.
The creature rested its head on its arms. "Does it matter? I want to be gone from this world. If you truly must know, I lean towards what you would consider evil."
"I can't just kill you."

"Oh, I know that. There's something in there that I want." It nodded towards the exit. "It should be able to take me back."
"Then why didn't you just say so?" Marshall muttered.
Fionna nudged him, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Do we have a deal?" The creature purred.
"You'll just use it to get home?" Fionna asked.
The creature shrugged. "That's part of the choice, heroine. You have to take into account what I might do with a powerful item. And you?"
"Where is your family, anyway?" Marshall asked.

"The past. Which means any havoc that I wreak would be worse than it would be in this timeline."
Fionna sighed. "I don't care if we can't continue. We can't let you have an item of that power." She drew one of her swords, and the creature moved so that its face was inches from hers. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, girl. I can, and will, kill you. But let us wait to see if your friend follows your lead."

Marshall hesitated, before drawing his ax as well. "I'm with Fi on this one. And if you threaten my Fi, you're going down."
The creature nodded once. "Very well. You've both passed." It retreated to its corner again.
"What? But, we didn't get you what you wanted." Fionna replied.

The creature regarded her through narrowed eyes. "If the test had as obvious of an answer as that, it wouldn't be a test, now would it? I'm perfectly content to stay down here by myself. And in case you didn't know, putting the needs of many over the needs of one and possibly yourself was the message here. You passed. Congratulations."